No. 8 Oklahoma Wrestling Bounces Back With Win Over NC State, 39-3

The eighth-ranked Oklahoma wrestling team defeated North Carolina State, 39-3, Saturday night at the Howard McCasland Field House. The Sooners overcame the loss last night at the hands of Iowa State to win big against N.C. State recording three falls and three major decisions.

Oklahoma won all of their matches except at 197 pounds, losing that match in overtime. The win marks the sixth time the Sooners and Wolfpack have met, with Oklahoma winning all six.

“We wrestled great,” Oklahoma head coach Jack Spates said. “We got some pins, we had some turns and we had some hustle. I was very pleased with our performance overall. You have to be careful coming off a big opponent that you don't take the next opponent lightly.”

The meet started at 125 pounds with 10th-ranked Sam Hazewinkel winning by a major decision, 10-1. Hazewinkel controlled the match only allowing his opponent one point on an escape in the first period.

Two more Sooners had major decisions, 13th-ranked E.K. Waldhaus and 11th-ranked Justin Dyer. Dyer at 184 pounds also only allowed one point to his opponent which came in the first period on an escape after two near falls by Dyer. Dyer added one more near fall in the third period to win the match, 14-1.

At 174 pounds, Waldhaus let his opponent hang around until the third period where he exploded for seven points and a near fall with 17 seconds remaining. Waldhaus, after riding time, won the match by a score of 14-3.

Oklahoma won three matches by falls. Fourth-ranked Leonce Crump only needed 1:36 to pin his opponent in the heavyweight division. Crump scored a takedown at 2:34 in the first period, only to roll his opponent for the pin to pick up six points and gave him with 35 career pins.

Mimi Miller dominated his match scoring four points in one minute on a takedown and a near fall to have his opponent leave the match with an injury. The injury default gave Miller the pin and six points. Matt Grice also recorded a fall tonight when N.C. State had to forfeit the 157 pound match. This would have been Grice's first match since the National Duals when he competed against Hofstra.

“It's good to see guys going for pins,” Spates said. “We had a lot of back points. We showed some character, people coming from behind in tough wins.”

No. 1 Teyon Ware, No. 11 Jeff Ecklof and Rafael Maturino all won their matches by decisions. Ware at 141 pounds came back from his first loss of the season last night winning a close match, 6-5. Ware escaped a takedown from Alex Hernandez with 51 seconds left to get the one point advantage.

Ecklof needed overtime to pull out the victory at 149 pounds. At the end of regulation the score was tied at 1-1. There was no action in the first overtime, so the match went to a second overtime period which let Ecklof escape from his opponent to hold on for the win.

Maturino's match was close with Maturino leading by only one point after two periods, 6-5, at 165 pounds. In the third period Maturino scored a near fall with 30 seconds left and won the match, 8-5.

“I am extremely proud of Rafael,” Spates said. “That is our MVP, probably two nights in a row. He was a hero last night too. To come back from behind and break the kid and dominate him like that was huge. It was a tribute to all of Rafael's hard work.”

Oklahoma will wrestle again next on Friday against Michigan State at 7 p.m. in the Howard McCasland Field House.

Weight-By-Weight Results
125: Hazewinkel (OU) Maj. Dec. 10-1 Cummings (NCSU)
133: Miller (OU) Injury Default Pacitti (NCSU)
141: Ware (OU) Dec. 6-5 Hernandez (NCSU)
149: Ecklof (OU) Dec. 2-1 Giamoni (NCSU)
157: Grice (OU) Fall by Forfeit
165: Maturino (OU) Dec. 8-5 Kawa (NCSU)
174: Waldhaus (OU) Maj. Dec. 14-3 Brownlee (NCSU)
184: Dyer (OU) Maj. Dec. 14-1 Humphries (NCSU)
197: Garren (NCSU) Dec. 7-5 David (OU)
HWT: Crump (OU) Fall (1:36) Palma (NCSU)